


Don't Stop The Rain

by daelisix



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Animator!Wonpil, Audio Engineer!Young K, CEO!Sungjin, Character Modeler!Dowoon, Concept Artist!Reader, F/M, Fluff, Game industry, Life isn't like those in dramas and fanfictions, Or maybe it is, Romantic rainy season expectation, tsundere Jae
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-06-05 19:01:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15177239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daelisix/pseuds/daelisix
Summary: It's frustrating when it's raining and you don't have your umbrella with you. But that frustrating moment could turn into a romantic one when there's an attractive guy holding  an umbrella beside you--like those in books, movies or dramas, where the guy would offer to share his umbrella. A new love could bloom--or not.





	1. Umbrella

**Author's Note:**

> I remembered an anime scene the moment I woke up with the guy and girl sharing umbrella, then I saw a twitter post right after that a rain + umbrella is romantic but.... What if the guy isn't kind at all to share his umbrella with you? 
> 
> Was supposed to make this a one-shot, but I really wanna post now, so lemme make it a short story (with 3-5 chapters maybe)  
> posted on AFF (daesix) and twitter(@kohiiby), too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not proofread, so excuse the mistakes.

It's frustrating when it's raining and you don't have your umbrella with you. But that frustrating moment could turn into a romantic one when there's an attractive guy holding an umbrella beside you--like those in books, movies or dramas, where the guy would offer to share his umbrella. A new love could bloom--or not. 

"Aw man, it's raining real hard," the silver-haired guy utters after a groan before glancing at you "You don't have an umbrella?"

"Huh?" you flip your head to look at him, a bit startled, and you can't help but adore his tiny eyes covered by his silver hair. He tilts his head waiting for an answer "Uh, no," you shyly respond with a hope of him to offer his, or at least share it with you. 

"That sucks," he just shrugs before looking ahead again and finally taking a step out of the shed. 

"What the actual--" confounded with what just happened, you try to gather every ounce of self-restraint to not throw a shoe on him "What a jerk"

Letting out a sharp breath, you hug yourself because it's getting cold and step back so you won't get wet from the rain. You look up to the gloomy sky as you bite your lower lip to stop it from quivering.

It's been almost 10 minutes and you're still hugging yourself, looking down as you wait for the rain to stop.

"Hey! Here," you suddenly heard a not-so-familiar voice. Looking up, you see the stranger from before towering over you with his left arm stretched, holding a spare umbrella.

 _Maybe he's not a jerk after all._ Trying to hide the small smile on your face, you gesture a small bow of gratitude before stretching an arm to reach for the umbrella. "Thank--"

"Woops," he pulls back his arm before you could even have contact with the umbrella. "It's not for free, though" Your forehead furrows "Nothing's free in this world, Lady"

You exhale a sharp breath of surrender before rolling your eyes, "Fine. How much should I pay you for it?"

"Uh-uh", he moves his left index finger left to right as a 'no', "I don't like money. How about a coffee? Since it's cold anyway. Oh! But I don't usually drink coffee. How about a lobster, maybe?"

You squint your eyes in disbelief, "Foget it"  _A lobster for an umbrella? Man, that's an expensive exchange. I take back what I said. He's really a jerk. A total jerk._

"Okay, then how about chicken? There's a nearby chicken place over there. And I swear, I swear, Man, their chicken is to die for"

"Why don't you just die for it then?"

He shrugs, "I'm sure I'm not the one who'd be dead if I can't go home tonight. I don't have anything important with me that need not to get wet," he eyes the folder, between your chest and arms, containing a lot of files that you need to attend to later. Mr. Park, your boss, would surely kill you if you won’t finish the revisions and of course, if you get those drafts wet and damaged. “I’ll go ahead then.” He says before he turns to take a step away from the shed.

Making a tighter grip on the folder, you take the offer, “Fine! Chicken it is.”

With a wide smile painted on the stranger’s face, he turns around and paces back to finally give you the umbrella he got from a convenience store, a few-minute walk away from the park you’re at.

You walk behind him, struggling a bit with your things, while he, on the other hand, is humming cheerfully as he take small steps with his free hand in his pocket. You glare at him with every bit of annoyance from your system. _He doesn’t have a plan on helping me, does he?_

“Stop glaring, Missy. I can feel you shooting daggers on me.” He chortles softly “Remember, I just saved your little ass”

“Whatever! And F.Y.I. Mister, my ass ain’t little”

With a smirk on his face, he looks at you over his shoulder, his eyes travel from your head to feet and finally rested on your face. Your eyebrows furrow more.

“Can you not?!”

He sniggers causing his shoulders to move (and causing your stomach to flip and your blood rushing) as he finally faces you and walk towards your side. Your raise a brow and he answers it with a shrug.

“Go,” he motions you to continue walking “I’ll walk beside you. You might go elsewhere to escape if I walk before you.”

Rolling your eyes for how many times now, you sigh and start walking again. The edge of his lips raises again as he take a glance on you without you noticing. He’s so tall that you need to tilt your head almost 75 degrees just to look at his face when he’s just a feet away from you.

He suddenly takes the folder from you which causes your eyes to widen in surprise.

“You walk so slowly. And you might drop these papers and blame it on me and won’t give me that chicken that I want”

You scoff. He’s just so unbelievable, isn’t he? But somehow, you didn’t regret going to the chicken place with him because, yes, he’s actually telling the truth. Their chicken is really to die for.

You both keep eating and your mind becomes busy on thinking of whether to ask anything, say something or just continue to be quiet. You eye him not so subtly and you can’t help but curb yourself from smiling. He looks like a kid enjoying his favorite meal.

You also don’t know if it’s a relief or not that he isn’t saying anything either. You’re about to open your mouth to say something—maybe to ask his name, whether he lives around—but he stands up and utter his thanks before winking at you.

“Gotta go. Next time again”

“There won’t be any next time”

He shrugs “We don’t know anything about that. Who knows? We might see each other tomorrow again and the next day after that, and the day after, and the—“

“Whatever. Just go”

He beams, even his eyes are smiling, which causes your heart to make a loud thump. _What the heck was that?_ He mouths ‘See you’ before finally leaving the place.

You finally let go of the breath you don’t know you were holding. You put a hand on your chest and feel that your heartbeat is beating wildly. _Why does he need to be cute?_ You shake your head to erase the thought. _No, that’s not right. I mean, why does he need to be a jerk?_

“I—“, you get startled by the sudden voice and there he is again standing beside the table. He looks at you a bit with mirth from being surprised. You exhale sharply before glaring at him. “I forgot to tell you, just in case you’ll try finding it later, I’ll take the umbrella with me. It’s stopped raining anyway”

With mouth agape, you just look at his back, your eyes following him as he walks towards the exit. You shake your head again. _He’s really unbelievable._

 

After taking a shower, you take a seat in front of your computer. As if on cue, your phone rings. Your boss is calling you to tell you that he’ll give you until before you live for work tomorrow for the revisions instead of giving it to him first thing in the morning.

You didn’t have a chance to speak because he ended the call right after he told you his concern. You stare at your laptop for a minute, trying to absorb what just happened. You take your phone again to call someone.

“Wonpil!” You exclaim the moment the person on the other line answered “Mr. Park extended my deadline for the revision. And he told me to just rest tonight.”

There was a long pause before he utters a word, “Mr. Park? The Park Sungjin?”

“Yes. He gave me until before I leave for work tomorrow.” A cough can be heard from the other line. You’re pretty sure that Wonpil, your Animator best friend who also works in JYPSoft, is surprised by what he just heard. The CEO, Mr. Park Sungjin, can be approachable and nice but for him, a deadline is a deadline.

“For real?” He confirms in disbelief “But the 3D artists need your concept tomorrow for them to start modeling the characters”

“I—I don’t know. Shall I just ignore it and work for it tonight instead of resting like he said?”

“Yes.”

With a sigh, you called another person.

“Dowoonie,” you bite your lip for a second “Did Mr. Park call you?”

“Nope. Why?”

“Aren’t you going to work with the characters tomorrow for the new game we’re making?”

“Yes. And the non-organic modelers will also do the assets. We would also like to start right away so they’d be textured and give them to the riggers so the animators could work on them as early as possible, too. Why? What’s the matter? You’re having a hard time with the concept revisions?”

You let out a long sigh before shaking your head as if he can see you. “No, no. It’s nothing. Anyway, thank you. I’ll hang up now.”

Forgetting about the call, you pick up the stylus and move the drawing tablet closer to you.

Scratch.

Scratch.

Scratch.

Erase.

Scratch.

Flip.

Scratch.

You groan as you put your stylus down and slump your upper body and arms on the table. Without permission, someone’s face enters your mind. That slender young man, with his mischievous smile, silver hair, tiny eyes—his overall features that make him look as if he jumped straight out of a comic.

You sit back straight and move the drawing tablet away. You take a blank paper and a pencil and start scribbling. Your hand moves as if it knows exactly what it needs to do. Sometimes, you feel more comfortable drawing traditionally than digitally. You feel more of you are invested to it. That’s why every time an idea comes to mind, paper and pen are your best partners.

You start striding towards Mr. Park’s office the moment you dropped your things on your desk. He is quite surprised to see you peeking through his office door.

“You still have until 5pm. What makes you come here?”

“I’m actually done already, Sir”

He furrows his brows and motions you to continue. You walk towards his table and place the revised concepts. When he sees the first page, his eyes squint before he takes a look at you.

“Why does this character seem familiar?”

Your heart suddenly starts beating fast. “Pardon, Sir?”

Mr. Park just smirks and shakes his head. _He… smirked?_ “You can go rest for today. You can go to the Rec room, grab some coffee, have a date or whatever”

“Sir…?”

He lands a glance on you again. This time it’s a firm glance. “You heard me. Now, go before I change my mind”

The moment you step out of his office, you go straight to Wonpil right away to tell him what just had happened.

“He told you to go to the Recreational Room, where you can play or chill, when you actually need to meet a deadline today?” He asks “Are you sure? I mean, yes, we can go to the Rec Room anytime we want especially when we need our minds to rest and gather some creativity but not on the day of the deadline. You know that”

“Exactly! That’s why it’s weird. He even told me that I can go grab some coffee or have a date or whatever”

Wonpil suddenly grabs your arm and leans closer to you to whisper, “Maybe he likes you? And maybe he’s hoping you’d ask him for coffee?”

“What? That’s ridiculous, Pil”

Brushing aside your best friend’s remark, you spend the day trying to work on more concepts even when you don’t know if your revisions were already approved or need a few more revisions again. The CEO didn’t tell you anything. And it’s almost time for you to leave work but he hasn’t called you for more modification or change. _Maybe it was approved?_

 You open your bag and check your stuff, taking the umbrella out of your bag, getting it ready just in case it’s raining again. You don’t exactly hate the monsoon season. You don’t really dislike the rain either. It’s just that, sometimes, it really is a hassle.

You are about to leave your desk, bag already slung, when Wonpil calls your attention causing you to put your umbrella on your desk.

“Dowoon said they’ve already worked on with the new characters for the Fortday. So I think the new concepts were approved?” He shows an assuring smile before tapping your back “Now, go ahead. I’ll stay for a little bit more”

You happily walk out of the building. You’re only strolling for 3 minutes but it’s already starting to rain. You halt for a bit, look up to the murky sky and heave a sigh. You open your bag to get your umbrella but it’s nowhere to be found. That’s when you realize, you forgot to get it back from your table. With another sigh, you walk fast towards the shed where you also took covering from the rain yesterday.

“Told ‘ya! We’ll meet again”, the silver-haired asserts with a smug

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? :)


	2. Chicken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did not proofread again. Excuse the mistakes.

“Chicken?” The slender guy asks the moment you stood beside him, lifting up the spare umbrella, offering it in exchange with Chicken again.

You land a gaze on him, and admire his features for a second, before refusing his offer. You’re done with your deadline and you don’t have important files with you for now so it’s okay to go home late or get wet from the rain.

The _not-so-_ stranger lifts the edge of his lips before taking his eyes away from you. “Good luck waiting for the rain to stop then,” he declares before leaving you with an open umbrella in his right hand and the spare one on the other.

“Tch,” you roll your eyes. _Maybe he’ll come again after 10 minutes._

But even after 15 minutes have passed, no sign of the said guy can be found. Unconsciously pouting, you take your phone and earphones from your bag, taking every piece on each ear to listen to your favorite band.

“How can I stop the rain?” You sing softly with the music as your watch the raindrops have contact with the ground. _Right, he went back yesterday because he bought a spare umbrella from the convenience store. But he brought that umbrella today, so I guess there’s no reason for him to go back?_ You let out a sigh. _And why would he come back anyway? It’s not like I’m his responsibility or something._ “Tsk,” you rest your elbows on your lap as your hands cup your face. You shut your eyes as you slowly regret not taking the offer before.

“Chicken?” Your heart jumps by hearing that voice. You look up and straighten up, trying not to show any sign of relief, and see him holding a paper bag with the logo of the Chicken Place you went to yesterday. You take a gulp hoping that your cheeks are not turning red as he walks and sits beside you.

You try to ignore him as if he doesn’t exist but he moves closer causing your elbows to touch. You swallow the lump that formed in your throat to calm yourself.

“Chicken,” he offers again—more like a demand.

“No, thanks,” you decline and he chuckles.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking that this costs something again?” He confirms and you glance at him with an eyebrow raised as if telling him _‘Doesn’t it?’_ “Come one, just eat,” he chortles once more “If you won’t, I’ll leave you here without an umbrella,” he glances the sky for a moment “it seems like it won’t stop anytime soon.”

Rolling your eyes, you take a piece and stuff it in your mouth. He sniggers and you feel your ears getting hot as you chew. Something tingles in your chest from hearing his suppress laughs every single time and you refuse to look at him when he does. _Why do you have to be such an attractive jerk?_ You look down for a bit and bite your lower lip. _Nevermind. Looks are just looks. Character is still what’s important._ You tilt your head for a bit. _Why am I even thinking about these things?_

“What?” he voices “You seem like having an internal battle with yourself. Trying not to see me as an attractive guy, huh?”

You scoff. “You wish!”

He beams wider before taking a bite of chicken, too. You just want to spread a hand on his face and try to erase that smug of his.

“Seems like you were thinking of me last night, though”

With mouth a gape and wide eyes, you look at him with disbelief. “Excuse me?”

“Here,” he gives you the chicken take-out and the spare umbrella “you should go home now and take some rest. See you again,” he winks.

You can’t help but think about what he said. You keep rolling on your bed from one side to the other. “It’s not like I was really thinking about him last night. I just made a character with him as a reference,” you pause and stare at the ceiling, “or was I? No. No, no, no, no. I wasn’t. Okay? I wasn’t thinking about him”

“You’re doing something?” Dowoon peeks behind your computer unit the next morning

“Nothing in particular,” you take a glance at him before putting your gaze back to the monitor. “Just doing some research and maybe watch a movie or play a video game for inspiration later. Be on Rec Room, maybe? Something’s up?”

“Mark took a sick leave today and I remember you enjoy making 3D models, wanna help?”

You got your work done for now and because of the work pipeline, you’re not as busy as the others. You’re just doing some research for character modifications or maybe new concepts that can be used in the near future; and you’re planning to play Overwatch or Team Fortress 2 with the other people from the Concept Team.

The game that the JYPSoft is currently developing is now on the production phase. The pre-production was due last week—the game concept, the storyline, storyboard, animatic. The first part of the production phase—the characters and environment concepts—was due yesterday. Now the 3D Team is doing its part—sculpting the characters into 3D from the 2D concepts and also modeling non-organic assets for the environment, weapons and other things. These will undergo Retopology, wherein they try to make the high resolution models into low resolution ones or lessen their poly counts before they will undergo to the process of projecting 2D images to 3D models’ surfaces, called UV Mapping, for texture mapping.

“I’m not good with Zbrush, Woonie.” You squint your eyes a bit “How about I do UV Mapping instead?”

“You make terrible UV Maps,” he retorts “and besides I wasn’t asking you to sculpt the characters. Only a crazy person would ask you to do that. What I meant was to make non-organic assets.” He exhales sharply “You know, even if Mark is not around today, the team can carry out the task but I asked just in case. Also, because Wonpil told me so. He said you keep sighing since this morning, so he asked if maybe I can get you pre-occupied with other things you enjoy.”

You beam and pat his head, “If it’s Autodesk Maya or 3D Studio Max then I can handle it. No worries. Just give me the 2D designs that I need to work on.”

“About that…” he bites his lip for a bit “can you just work on Mark’s unit? I’m afraid we’ll get busted if I send the designs to your unit.”

You spend the next hours doing some 3D assets. Even if you’re in the Concept Team, you’re confident with your 3D (non-organic) Modeling skills.

“Mark, let’s grab some—oh,” the fox-eyed guy who just came to Mark’s unit halts, “Where’s Mark?”

“He took a sick leave, Younghyun” you politely respond.

“Oh, then how about you?” You look up to him again, confused. “Wanna grab some coffee downstairs?”

You accept the offer since you feel like you need a breather. You can sense a few pair of eyes glaring at you and you know exactly what the reason is. Younghyun is quite popular not just in the Audio Team but in the whole company. He’s a natural sweet guy, attractive and talented. Every time there is a party in the company, he’s one of those people who always have a part; he usually renders a song as he plays the guitar.

“Aren’t you with the Concept Team?” he asks as he puts the coffee on the table and sits across you.

“Yeah, but we’re not in the _alert_ week (what the employees usually call it when their Team is the busiest and has the most role to play for the week),” you show a small smile “we just got out of it. So why not do something productive?”

“Being in the Rec Room is being productive, too, you know?” He smiles widely before taking a sip from his coffee.

Your company has an arcade, gaming consoles and other kind of games (located in the Recreational Room), a gym, a café, a sports area, library and theater. These are not just for fun but also a necessity to every employee. They need creativity and not all the time creative juices can be squeezed out from the brain. Each needs to rest their minds and take some ideas and inspiration from their surroundings. And since your company is a game company, you also take insights from other games and even animation movies. So yes, being in the Rec Room is also being productive.

“I hope it will stop raining soon,” Wonpil pouts as he takes a seat between you and Younghyun. “My umbrella broke this morning and if it won’t stop raining later, I’d probably just let myself get wet. Man, I really hate it when it rains”

You look down to your coffee and caress the cup, thinking if whether you’re hoping for the rain to stop, too, or for it to just continue. _Why would I even want it to continue?_

“We still have two hours for work. It might stop later,” Younghyun hopes.

But even 30 minutes have passed after working hours, it’s still raining hard. And as if a light bulb just appeared on the top of your head, you take out the umbrella from your bag (which you secured first thing in the morning when you got to work).

“Pil,” you get the attention of your whining friend, “I can let you borrow my umbrella.”

He eyes the umbrella on your hand before taking a look back at you, “How about you? You forgot it yesterday, and now you’re leaving without it again?”

“I’m fine. Just…” you tighten your grip, “just…”

“Just…?” He tilts his head closer to you

“Just walk me to the park near the company building.”

He’s hesitant at first but you assure him that you’re fine. Although you haven’t given him a proper answer as to why you want to be walked to the park and not the anywhere else, he still does it anyway.

_What am I even doing?_

 Few minutes after Wonpil left, a voice called your name.

“Younghyun?”

“Why are you here? You want me to walk you home?”

“Uh, no. Thanks though”

“I can let you borrow my umbrella instead,” sensing that you’ll refuse, he utters again, “or perhaps, you’re waiting for someone?”

You open your mouth to respond but the voice that answers his question doesn’t belong to you.

“Yes, she’s with me.”

A bit startled, you flip your head and see the _umbrella guy_ who used to have a silver hair, now ice blue, standing outside the shed under his umbrella.

“You... You look familiar,” Younghyun squints his eyes. “You’re… Aren’t you—”

“Hush,” he demands with a low but authoritative voice.

You shift your gaze to Younghyun, whose forehead is furrowed, and back to the umbrella guy.

“I’ll get going, then,” Younghun looks at you and smile, “You take care. I’ll see you tomorrow”

The umbrella guy’s eyes follow Younghyun and when he’s far enough, he lands is his gaze back on you. “You’re not going to see him tomorrow though”

“We don’t know about that,” you tell him the phrase he told you two days ago, “we work in the same company.”

“But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll see each other. You’re not in the same department.”

“How do you even know—“

“Here,” he cuts you off, “let’s go”

You crease your forehead before taking the spare umbrella. “Where?”

“Chicken?” his face softens as he simpers.

You raise a brow before smiling a little and shake your head a bit.

“You smiled,” he grins.

You clear your throat as you open the umbrella and start walking ahead of him. You can hear his laugh from behind as he teases you about being shy.

The Concept Team is called to the CEO’s office the next day to discuss the upcoming modifications.

“Besides from items exclusive for certain character levels, are there any other ideas on what other upgrades to make?” the concept manager asks.

“What if,” all eyes fix on you “something from appearance changes when the character reaches a certain level? Hair color, perhaps? Like when the character reaches level 25 or 50, the hair color will change…” you trail off as someone’s face invades your thoughts again “to ice blue?”

Mr. Park coughs as he tries to suppress a laugh or even just a grin, “Ice blue, huh?” He smirks “You sure stick to your character reference, huh?”

Your heartbeat doubles as he raises a brow. You want to ask what he actually meant but another concept artist says her opinion.

“But I think that’s not really necessary since you can unlock hair styles, clothes and accessories when the character levels up. And say, if we change the character’s hair color on a certain level, the player might not want the color for their character”

“Good point,” the other comments “But I also like the idea of there will be a change in hair color or hair style. What if there will be options and that style will only be available until the next upgrade? Like when I reach level 50, there will be options and I can only have that appearance from level 50 to level 100; and not for the rest of the game. Unlike the other things that can be unlocked to which players can use them from the level needed ‘til the end.”

The meeting goes for another hour. You go to Wonpil to ask him to get lunch together when Mark calls you out.

“Oh, Mark!” You beam “Feeling better now?”

“Yeah,” he smiles back, “Anyway, I saw the assets you’ve worked on yesterday. A big help! And they’re nicely modeled. Very much appreciated.” You just chuckle and before you continue walking with Wonpil, he utters again, “And, I’ve heard you’ve had coffee with Younghyun, too? Have you seen him today?”

 _“You’re not going to see him tomorrow though”,_ a voice echoes in your mind which causes you to smile more.

“Uh, no. Haven’t yet so far”

“What’s with that smile?” Wonpil queries with a knowingly look when you’re already a few feet away from Mark “Do you like Younghyun?”

You crease your brows, “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, that doesn’t make sense because you like Mr. Park”

You flip your head to look at him right away, “I told you, I don’t like him that way. I just admire him as a person. Not that kind of like”

As if on cue, the CEO walks his way towards you before calling your name.

“Speaking of the devil,” Wonpil grins, suppressing a giggle.

 “Don’t beat yourself too much,” he smiles a little “I heard you worked with the 3D team yesterday after doing some research for concepts?”

You can feel Wonpil’s grip on your arm tightens. You clench your fist, too.

“Don’t worry. I’m not mad,” he chuckles “Just… Just don’t overdo it, okay? You can rest, too. Make use of the Rec Room, or the theater.” He shifts his gaze to Wonpil “You can bring Wonpil with you since I think it’s not yet _alert_ week for the animators?” Wonpil flinches from hearing the _alert week_ , Mr. Park even knows that? “3D Team is still working on the assets and the riggers will have it next before the animators. So you can loosen up, guys” he smiles for the last time before excusing himself to have lunch.

Wonpil exhales the breath he’s been holding and grips your arm tighter because his knees went weak. He straightens up and the two of you just stand frozen on the floor. _What was that?_ Your heartbeat raises as your chest tightens.

“Did… he just smile? And chuckled? And told us to loosen up?” Wonpil confirms, still facing forward.

“I… I told you he’s being weird,” you finally move and face your friend.

“Maybe I’m really right. Maybe he really likes you? Aw!” you hit his head “I mean, has he been always this approachable? I mean, I know he is sometimes. And I know he also tells his employees to rest and chill but… he seems softer?” He raises a brow “Before when he tells us those things, he says it with a poker face even though we know he’s sincere. But you know—“

“I know what you’re talking about,” you continue to walk as you drag your friend along. He keeps talking about it during lunch and keeps on going about how Mr. Park might like you.

“Oh, it’s sunny today!” He exclaims, finally moving to another subject.

You bite your lip as your right thumb scratches your index finger, looking outside.

“Why do you seem down? Aren’t you happy that it’s not raining today? Hassle-free!”

You just shake your head and smile but your face is downcast after work. You slowly take each step, pouting, dragging your feet as if it’s heavy to lift. _I should be happy ‘cause it’s not raining, right?_

As you let out a sigh, a voice speaks in front of you. “Hey,” a guy wearing sneakers, tattered jeans, and a loose plain beige shirt, a smug painted on his face is standing a few feet away from you; both hands in the back pocket of his jeans.

“Chicken?”

You nod, “Chicken.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave your thoughts? :)


	3. Coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DID NOT PROOFREAD :)

“You seem sunny like the weather today,” Wonpil remarks as he takes the seat in front of you.

You just flash a smile and look at your plate. Getting ready to eat your lunch, you grab the spoon and fork, a very familiar figure suddenly appears beside you.

“May I?”

Wonpil gets startled and almost chokes on his water. As he puts the glass back on the table, he stands up and faces the CEO. You, on the other hand, are still seated while looking at your boss, puzzled.

“Go ahead, Sir. We’ll just—“

“No,” he cuts Wonpil off, “I mean, I’ll have lunch with the two of you.”

Wonpil quietly returns to his seat as Mr. Park takes his, too. You’re thinking that it’ll be awkward eating with your boss but surprisingly it’s not. You actually imagined your lunch to only have dead air, awkward clearing of throats, and small sounds from the utensils but the CEO keeps initiating confabs—which is not work-related, and thankfully that Wonpil’s also with you (he talks to the boss more comfortable than before—way comfortable). He asks about what’s going on with your normal lives, and he shares about his, too.

Somehow, you feel like they have their own little bubble—even though Mr. Park faces you and asks you things from time to time. _Am I imagining things? Maybe it’s just my awkward self._

He talks about how he originally wants to be in the film industry because he fell in love with three-dimensional animation through animated films. But his brother has been a gamer ever since they were little and when he made him watch some cinematic game trailers (World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, The Witcher, and Assassin’s Creed) he thought _‘Why not hit two birds with one stone?’_ He can develop games and do 3D animated trailers—it may be way shorter than 3D animated films, but somehow, it’s still kind of the same.

The boss looks _softer_ (as Wonpil calls it), his eyes even sparkle when he talks about animation and his brother. _But there’s more._ You squint your eyes.

“How are you spending your afternoon?” Mr. Park queries after finishing his plate.

“I’d probably watch some animated movies with characters that play instruments,” Wonpil answers “I’m actually excited about this new game. I like the idea of having musical instruments as weapons.”

Mr. Park nods in agreement, “My brother was thrilled, too. You know how I always consult him with the game designs and all of the concepts in all of our games?” Wonpil nods and you stay still “When I told him about this, he can’t wait for it that he goes here almost everyday to see how it’s going. You still remember him?” The question is directed to Wonpil.

With a questioning look, you tilt your head and see your best friend takes a brief peek at your face before turning back to the CEO, “Yes, of course.”

The conversation is interrupted by a phone call. You notice Mr. Park glances at you before excusing himself to answer the call and leave the table. You cross your arms and arch your brows at your best friend who’s now looking at you with guilt etched on his face.

“I had my internship in their studio when he was just starting,” he bites his lip, fumbles his fingers, and looks away “He was also my senior in college. That’s why I know his brother.”

So that explains why it seemed like they had their own little bubble. But you still can’t help but think that there’s more to it.

 “Can you make one for me, too?” You almost jump in surprise upon hearing the CEO’s voice behind you, few hours after lunch, asking you to make coffee.

“Sir!” You look at him and he smiles a bit when he realizes he startled you, “You should have just called me. Where’s Jackson?”

He shrugs as the side of his lips rises. There is a slight thump in your chest when you remember someone who always does that familiar gesture.

“You know my secretary,” he softly chuckles “he might be in B2 (basement two, where the sports area is) doing some fencing or playing ball”

Jackson is Mr. Park’s good friend. If he had not been his friend for a long time, he might have been fired right away. But even though Jackson is always playful, he gets serious when he works—and he does them exceedingly. And personally, you think Mr. Park needs someone like Jackson beside him. They contrast each other which makes them a match. The chief needs a good laugh from time to time and for sure, Jackson is doing a good job in that matter. He needs to loosen up a bit and you’ve seen him do so with Jackson.

At the edge of your line of vision, you see Wonpil about to enter the pantry but halts when he sees the back of the chief. With his lips tightly pressed against each other forming a thin line, he quietly steps back while doing some finger hearts before vanishing from your vision.

You furrow your brows and faces the CEO again, “Alright. Two teaspoons of honey and a dash of cinnamon?” He narrows his eyes on you as if wondering how you knew his coffee. You laugh softly, “Jackson makes me do it every time he catches me making coffee,” you explain without being asked. “I’ll bring it to your office when I’m done, Sir”

When he’s about to leave, he faces you again and tells you that even if the others made their point this morning, he still finds your idea interesting. “Ice blue,” he smirks as he slightly shakes his head and leaves you confused.

 _What was that about?_ Your chest tightens and his smiling face flashes in your head again. He’s been especially nice to you these days, even ate lunch with you, that it feels weird. _‘Maybe he really likes you’_ Wonpil’s voice echoes in your mind and you hastily shake your head and slap your face before actually turning red. _No._

With your coffee in your left hand and Mr. Park’s in the other, you go out of the pantry only to see your boss standing in the hallway with a hand in his pocket, a small smile painted on his face, and eyes darted on something— _someone._ Your curiosity wins over you so you walk faintly towards him and trace his line of vision. A talking Wonpil, all smiles, welcomes your sight. Your lips part and you slowly shift your gaze to the chief. His eyes are filled with— _adoration?_

_Oh. That’s the something._

You clear your throat, feeling a little bit guilty from cutting his sightseeing moment. He looks at you while keeping his cool, but you’re sure he faltered for a second or two. “Coffee?” You hand him his cup and he takes it from you and utters his thanks. He takes another quick glimpse on your best friend before excusing himself to go back to his office.

“Oh!” You are once again startled with that sudden voice “I was just about to ask you for coffee but I guess I’ll have one alone now”

“It’s okay, Younghyun,” you beam “I’ll drink with you. Want me to make one for you?”

“I actually want to get coffee downstairs,” he lifts his hand and points at you “but on second thought, I’ll take your offer.”

You go back to the pantry and make another cup for him. You both decide to watch an animated movie together so you walk together to one of the company’s mini-theaters. Younghyun talks about how he suddenly got load of works yesterday. He made adjustments to the audio of the old games and he was asked to do others’ works, too.

“I even told you the other day that I was gonna see you tomorrow—which is yesterday—but I didn’t even had a glimpse of you,” he nonchalantly states.

You feel a rush of blood creep to your cheeks so you just awkwardly chuckle. Just when you’re about to enter the mini-theater, a booming voice calling Younghyun pervades the hallway.

“You have another assignment,” Jackson, smiling widely, walks (slightly hoping) towards you. He tells Younghyun that Mr. Park wants him to let him listen to the options to use for the trailer for the new game.

Younghyun’s eyes widen, mouth agape, and dashes away as he loudly tells you sorry for going ahead. Jackson drags you to the Rec Room to play some games.

It’s still sunny when you step out of the building after work. _Guess I’ll have to head straight home today, huh?_ You rummage your bag to check one last time if you forget something that you don’t notice who walks pass you.

A forearm suddenly rests on the top of your head, “Yo!” he exclaims.

Your eyes widen as you look at him before grabbing his forearm away from your head. You look back to the company building, then at your left and next is to your right, wondering where he came from. “Why are you here?”

“Errands,” he arch a brow “let’s grab something to eat” he demands as he casually rests his arm on your shoulder.

You lift your shoulder and shake it to make him take his arm down but he adjusts it to lay it more comfortably.

“Do you want some ramen or rice cakes?” he quiries, “let’s take a break from chicken for a while. We’ve been eating it for four consecutive days”

_Four consecutive days. He’s counting?_

“Can you please take your arm off my shoulder?”

“Ramen _and_ rice cakes!” He avoids your remark “Lezgedit!”

“ _Let’s, get,_ it,” you correct emphasizing the _‘let’s’_ and _‘get’_

“Lezgedit!” He repeats.

You continue to let him drag you (more like you’re coming with him _willingly_ but of course you won’t admit that even to yourself), as he shares what happened to his day. _‘A wonderful-beautiful-me in a life of day’_ as he calls it.

“Hey, Chicken!” you call him “look! A new pretzel parlor has opened, let’s eat there instead”

“Who are you calling _Chicken?”_ he asks, ignoring (once again) the rest of your sentence.

You tell him that you’ll call him that from now on since he keeps offering chicken for the past days and he hasn’t told you his name (so you’re not telling him yours either). He raises a brow and shuffles your hair. You take a step away and punch his arm in return.

“Man, how can someone as small as you punch so hard?” He winces as he grips his arm, rubbing it as if trying to ease the pain. He lays his forearm back on your shoulder again and you do not protest.

He orders three servings of pretzel sticks and points at you, “She’s paying.” You look at him with a you-are-so-unbelievable-look, but without a word you open your bag and take your wallet to pay.

He gives you one of the cups and he claims the other two as his. You enter a coffee shop to grab coffee to let your irritation meter drop. After telling your drink, the chicken guy tells his order, too. “He’s paying” you tell the barista before walking away.

You wait for him outside and when he goes out, he walks pass you, taking big steps and not giving you your coffee. “This is mine. I paid for this,” he retorts when you told him to give you your drink.

As if your feet have their minds of their own, they take both of you at the very familiar place—the shed in the park. It’s also starting to drizzle.

You both sit on the bench and put your things on it, too. He sits in a cross-legged position (indian sit), facing you. You start having conversation—like you’re friends; or just a normal getting to know each other—telling what each other’s life is like. You even have the same favorite band.

“I’ve been listening to _Stop the Rain_ one of these days,” as if on cue, the raindrops star falling heavier “Maybe because of the monsoon season”

“So,” he trails off as he takes a look at the raindrops “you always wish for the rain to stop? I mean, I know the song doesn’t _literally_ speak about the rain, but you know, like now… Do you want it to stop?”

You slowly turn to face him. _No._ “Yes,” you utter under your breath before taking a bite of your pretzel. _I don’t want to. I want to spend more time with you, get to know you better._ “Who would want to be stuck here with someone like you?”

He scoffs, “Oh, I bet there are a lot. With a face like mine? I’m sure they’d be more than willing to spend a week with me here.” He takes a sip from his drink “Speaking of, you’ve been here with me for 5 straight days already.”

You roll your eyes. You look at your cup and there’s no pretzel left. You attempt to get one from his but he swiftly slaps the back of your hand.

“I paid for that!” You state matter-of-factly. He just looks at you as he chews carefully. On the second try, you finally succeed. In return, he reaches for your coffee and takes a sip. You look at him with wide eyes—your gaze landed on his lips with your straw between them. _Indirect kiss._ You feel heat creeping on your cheeks and you choke on the pretzel which makes you cough uncontrollably.

He stretches his arm to give you your coffee for you to drink and make your coughing stop but you refuse.

“You better drink it before you die,” he asserts “I don’t wanna be a suspect of your death.”

You glare at him and hastily take the cup. You open the lid and drink it. He raises one eyebrow and smiles widely when he figures out why you choked.

“Oh I see,” he grins wider “You were thinking about _indirect kiss,_ aren’t you?” He leans closer and whispers, “You want a direct one?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? :)


	4. Interest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did not proofread, excuse the mistakes

You’ve been staring at your ceiling for quite a while now. You roll over, for the nth time, to your left and puff out sharply. Your heart has also been throbbing wildly for hours; and it beats more extremely when a scene flashes in your mind.

_“You were thinking about indirect kiss, aren’t you? You want a direct one?”_

You feel steam coming out from your face and you shake your head while kicking the air. You roll over to your right and ruffle your hair. _Man, that Chicken!_ You glance at the digital clock on your bedside table. It’s already 3:14 in the morning. You sit up and fix your eyes on your wall and once again think about what happened earlier.

His loud (coughs) _adorable_ laugh spread the park after his remark. He was laughing so much from teasing you. You narrowed your eyes on him and slammed the bench as you leaned closer to him, making your left hand (the one you slammed on the bench) as a support. With your faces few inches apart from each other, you mumble, “You want to?”

His laughing stopped and looked at you, quite surprised with how close you were to him, his gaze shifted down to your mouth. You arched a brow as if challenging him. With a smirk, you lift your hand (now with a pretzel between your thumb and index which you sneaked from his cup) and put the pretzel between your faces before taking a bite from it, with gaze still darted on his.

You leaned back with a smug and stuff the rest of the pretzel you’re holding to your mouth.

You stayed in the shed for another two hours just talking about random things again. It was almost 8:30 when he stood on the bench and fumbled something at the shed’s ceiling. He was holding a clear umbrella when he stood still.

You creased your forehead, “You actually hid an umbrella there and you’re only taking it out now?”

He did his favorite move—shrugging with a smug face. He went down the bench and opened the umbrella. “Dinner?”

You didn’t decline. You’re already hungry (and want to stay a little bit longer with him) so a dinner before going home isn’t a bad idea.

You found it astounding how you spent every afternoon with him for five consecutive days; how the two of you spent time together as if you’re good old friends; how you tease and bicker with each other; how you can talk about random things with easiness; how you eat snacks after work.

_Doesn’t it look like you’re having an after-work date with him everyday?_

You wave your hand trying to dismiss the thought. With a sigh, you get off from your bed and walk towards your computer unit.

“Fortnite? Overwatch? Far Cry? Hmm… what shall I play?” You continue scanning your games but in the end, you choose Minecraft.

You play until the sun’s up. You look at your window and see that it’s already bright outside. “Crap,” you save your game and turn your computer off. You grab a sweater and take your keys before heading out.

You grab breakfast from the nearest diner and you’re craving for coffee but decide not to drink one. You yawn as you walk back to your place, “Finally! Hope I’ll be getting some sleep now”

You sleep the whole morning and it’s already three minutes after 2pm when you wake up. Your grumbling tummy greets you. You take a shower and dress neatly, take an oversized hoodie and tie it on your waist, get a small sling bag and stuff your phone, wallet, and keys and head out for lunch.

You’re walking near the chicken place when an arm rests on your head. Without taking a look, you roll your eyes, “Are you stalking me?”

He scoffs, “You wish, Dude” he ruffles your hair and puts his arm on your shoulder. “Must be fate,” he chuckles

“Ew,” you grimace “I didn’t know you’re a romantic”

Brushing your remark aside, he looks at you and asks where you’re headed to. “Lunch? It’s already late for one”

“I woke up late,” you explain.

“Oh…” the side of his lips lifts “Seems like someone’s been up all night thinking of me”

You elbow his stomach which gains a soft groan from him. “Stop assuming, Mister”

He sniggers, “Oh, stop assuming, Missy. I didn’t say it’s you. Why act guilty?”

He goes with you as you eat your lunch. He does not order a single thing. He just sits in front of you, elbows on the table, fingers intertwined—chin rests on them, and watches you chew on your food the whole time.

He reaches for your drink and sips on it. You glance at him and look back to your plate. _It’s not a big deal._ He arches a brow at your reaction before he puts back the glass on the table.

“So where are you going now?” He asks when you finish your meal.

You shrug and lean back. “Go home?”

“Wanna come to my place?” He suggests casually and you stare at him with wide eyes.

-

“Aw!” You cry “Wait! That hurts!” You grimace as he chuckles

“I told you, I’m good at this.” Even without looking at him, you can tell he’s wearing a smug on his face

“Do you really have to do it from behind? Wait, aw!” You take your hands away from the mouse and the keyboard and glare at him “I told you no rifles!” You hiss “That was SSG 08, wasn’t it? You’re such a cheat!”

He dragged you to his apartment after you had eaten your lunch. It took you by surprise when he suggested it but when he told you to play games with him (because he has two computer units), your eyes sparkled.

He just chuckles as he half-heartedly murmurs his sorry. You crack your knuckles (getting serious) before getting your hair tie from your wrist, gather your hair and tie it in a ponytail. You smirk.

“Okay, I’ll stop.” The blue-haired straightens up “Alright, let’s just use pistols like how we originally agreed.”

When another round starts, your fingers hit the keys right away. B+1+4 to load your secondary weapon with Night Hawk .50C pistol; B+4+5 to buy a Magnum Sniper Rifle as your primary weapon. B+6+2 to equip yourself with Kevlar and helmet and you also buy some grenades.

You hit the number 3 key to load yourself with a knife to move faster.  You dash to the tunnel, hit the 4, and throw a grenade inside. _Fire in the hole!_ You move to the side, press down the left control button to duck, and shoot when the chicken guy went out of the tunnel. You jump from left to right while shooting and run back to hide from a wall. You shift to rifle and make a headshot when he becomes visible from your sight.

“Ha!” You spite

The chicken guy half-spread his forearms in disbelief, “What the heck!” He exclaims. “You said no rifles!”

“Said the one who shot me with a rifle on the first round” You retort.

You both decide to use whatever weapon to avoid the cheating. It’s a close game but you’re leading.

“What? Planting bomb?”

“You didn’t say anything about _not_ planting bomb earlier,” you snigger.

You both keep playing that you do not notice the time passing. If it’s not for your grumbling stomach, you would not have noticed it’s already night time.

You gasp, “Oh shoot! It’s past 7?”

The other takes a glance on his wrist watch and suggests to call it a day. You brush your hands twice before crossing your arms and turn to him, “You lose!” You paint a smug “Well, let’s go have some dinner. You’re paying”

He protests, saying you didn’t have any pact about it, but still pays for your dinner an hour after. You find it mirthful how you seem like you’ve known each other for ages that you just casually talk nonstop and laugh with each other comfortably. He even had his forearm on your shoulder again when you were walking and finding a place to eat.

And as if the hours you’ve spent with each other earlier aren’t still enough, you go towards _the_ shed after the meal.

“What caught your interest lately?” You quiz few moments after you talked about some video games and just as when the rain starts pouring “Like, of course, other than games.”

He smiles briefly, not his usual big smile—it’s just small but _deep._ He leans back, both hands on the bench. “More than a week ago,” he starts “Me and my grandma went to visit my grandfather’s grave for his death anniversary. We were on our way to see my brother after that. So I was talking on the phone with him when my grandma suddenly crossed the road—technically, she saw someone who looked like my grandpa,” he pauses and smiles. You take a gulp hoping nothing bad had happened. “Then there was this lady who stopped her and brought her back to the sidewalk. I still haven’t realized it then. I only noticed that grandmother’s gone was after a few moment when people started moving to cross the street. She wasn’t behind me and when I looked around, she was already in the middle of the road, her right hand was held by that young lady—she was helping her to cross.”

“So,” you trail off. You clear your throat before speaking again, “this girl caught your interest? Did you talk to her? Thanked her?” You unconsciously bite your lower lip as a brow arches.

“I was supposed to thank her that day. I hurriedly crossed the street, and when I was just like a meter away, I stood still. I found out she works at my b—“ he tilts his head a bit “she works in the same company as my brother; she was wearing the company’s lanyard. Few days after that, I managed to talk to her,” he pauses and slowly turns his head towards you, “I talk to her everyday.”

“Ah,” you respond dryly as you walk away “I see.”

“At first I just really wanted to thank her,” he continues “If it had not been for her, I might’ve lost my grandma, too—exactly a year after I lost my grandpa.” He exhales before he lifts his hand “This is his wristwatch—my grandfather’s watch.” He licks his lips before flashing a smile as he puts down his hand “She piqued my curiosity. She’s genuinely nice—although not that nice to me; she’s really really fun to be with. I also love teasing her a lot because she bickers back. And I look forward to seeing her every single day.”

“Hmm,” you nod. Your eyes can’t focus on a single thing to look at. You really want to call it a night already but the rain just falls heavier. You fold your lips together as you think of what else to ask or say. _Maybe I shouldn’t have asked._

The blue-haired stretches and moves a few inches away from you. To your surprise, he suddenly lays himself on the bench, making your lap as his pillow. You ask yourself why you’re not complaining but instead you stare down at his soft silky face. His eyes are shut, his lips twitch a bit. As if your right hand has its mind of its own, it moves towards his head and your fingers start stroking his hair causing his lips to stretch in a smile.

“I don’t think the rain will stop any time soon,” he declares “let me take a nap for a bit. I couldn’t really sleep last night from thinking of that girl—wondering if I’d see her today even if it’s her day off.”

Your nose scrunches as you hastily brush his face with your hand. He laughs and grabs your hand to stop you. He holds it for a while, grazing his thumb on your palm, before putting it back on his head, motioning you to stroke his hair again. A lump forms in your throat and you swallow it as you oblige.

 _The audacity to talk about another girl while you’re with a girl—and even held her hand and placed your head on her lap right after you talked about the other one!_ You exhale a long breath before batting your eyelids briskly after feeling your eyes starting to heat up. _What is wrong with me?_

 

“Maybe, he’s making her jealous?” Wonpil suspects when you ask him what could be the meaning if a guy spends time with a girl every afternoon, eats snack and dinner with her, held her hand (even for a brief moment), and lays on her lap, but talks about another girl with so much fondness in his eyes.

It’s been two days, and you didn’t see him yesterday. He has mentioned about spending every Sunday with his grandmother so you just spent the whole day playing Far Cry.

“Why did you ask though?” Your best friend quizzes “You’ve been seeing someone?”

“What?! No!” you respond forthwith.

He narrows his eyes on you and you avoid his gaze. You take the two cups of coffee that has just been placed on the counter by the barista from the company’s café.

“Here, you hold these first.” You give him the cups and straighten up “I’ll take a quick piss before we head upstairs”

After doing your business, you see your best friend pouting (as usual) while his eyes are darted on someone. You’re not even surprised to spot the CEO when you trace Wonpil’s line of vision.

The next few hours are a blur. Maybe you just want to call it a day already and head somewhere.

“You’re going to the pantry?” Jackson asks when he sees you walking in the hallway. He strides fast to walk beside you.

“Nah,” you smile “to the library. You need me to make coffee for Mr. Park?”

You jump a little bit when he goes in front of you, puts his hands on each of your shoulder and pierces your eyes. “I need you to listen to something,” his gaze continues to dart on you as he waits for your response.

You lift both eyebrows and shrug, “What is it?”

“I found this song and I’ve been kind of singing it since this morning,” he grins “I need a company”

He gives you one of the earpieces before he fumbles on his phone. You nod when you start hearing the plucking of the guitar. You glance at Jackson and give him an approval look. His grin becomes wider and throws a fist into the air as if he just made an achievement.

_I'm the kind of guy_

Your jaw drops upon hearing the first line. Your heart starts beating uncontrollably. _His voice sounds like him!_

 _That'll love to love you baby_  
You're the kind of girl  
I would give up everything for

You take a gulp. Unconsciously, you start breathing heavily; shoulders are moving up and down.

 _Baby all I need is your loving all around me_  
Oooo don't that sound kind of nice  
Hey yeah ~

Your cheeks start to heat up. You can feel yourself turning red. _It really sounds like him!_ You bite your lip as you try to keep your thoughts from wandering to the memory from two nights ago.

_There is just one thing  
That I need to ask you baby_

Jackson starts singing and you have the urge to put a hand on his mouth to make him quiet.

 _Can we take this kind of slow?_  
Cause I don't want to mess up  
Never felt like this before  
And I feel I'm going crazy

“Who sung this?” You finally let your curiosity take over

Jackson  takes off the earpiece, “Oh!” he sniggers “Mr. Park’s brother when he was younger. I think this was… 3 years ago?”

“Mr. Park’s brother?” You affirm “The one who reviews our games?”

“Yeah. His only brother. Oh wait,” Jackson shifts his focus on his phone, “I downloaded his video. Let me show you. He used to have this big rimmed square glasses,” he gestures a square shape. “Here,” as if on cue, the screen changes to Mr. Park’s name “Oh sh*t! Sungjin—I mean, Mr. Park’s calling. Gotta go!”

He dashes away and you let your left shoulder lean on the wall before your knees give up. _Must be my imagination._

“You okay?” a fox-eyed young man appears behind you.

“I’m fine.” You straighten up “Thanks for asking though, Younghyun”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts please? :)


	5. Burn

“It’s raining?” Younghyun states, puzzled “It hasn’t rained for the past 2 weeks. I thought rainy days are over.”

Shifting your gaze from the raindrops falling hard outside to the cup of coffee in front of you, you let out a soft breath, feeling uneasy.

It’s a blur Tuesday and without anything interesting happening, you spend the afternoon sipping coffee with Younghyun and Wonpil.

For the past 2 weeks, the weather has been fair. And every single afternoon, you meet with the Chicken Guy as if there’s a silent agreement that you’ll both see each other at the usual place after your work. You’ve gone to different food joints, had fun on arcades, played basketball and badminton, indulged in video games, and took delight in small chitchats or even long serious confabs.

Also, for those weeks, Younghun has been constantly asking you to have coffee together. Other times though, he’d suddenly be assigned to work on something or he’d be called to the CEO’s office. You find it weird sometimes; it’s not yet _alert_ week for the Audio Department so he should not have a lot of work for now, but it’s been the opposite. It’s as if _fate_ is keeping Younghyun being close to you—or maybe it’s just your imagination. Or maybe that’s the case—only that it’s not _fate_ doing the work.

Three weeks ago, you’d be low key blithe if the rain falls. Right now, you can’t help but be uneasy. _Why hasn’t he showed up last night?_ You unconsciously sigh which makes Younghyun take a glance on you. _Maybe because of what happened last Saturday?_

“There’s a storm coming, I guess?” Wonpil remarks that just passes through your ears. It seems like all you can only hear are your thoughts. “I saw it on the news last night. They said it will rain hard for the following days”

Younghyun takes a glance at Wonpil, “Ah? Really?” then looks back at you “I don’t watch news. I was asleep the whole evening”

With your face still cast down, you clasp the hot cup and sip from it. With another sigh, you carefully put it down before you sneeze.

“Are you okay?” Younghyun finally asks. “You’ve been sighing countlessly. You’ve also been sneezing since this morning”

“I’m fine,” you smile faintly “maybe it’s because of the weather.”

Wonpil and Younghyun do not buy that excuse but let it slide anyway; knowing you won’t tell what’s bothering you even if they ask.

 _I can’t tell them I walked home in the middle of heavy rain at almost midnight last night._ Another sigh, _Thank God I didn’t get fever._ You bite your lip, still not hearing what Younghyun and Wonpil are discussing. _Was it really because of last Saturday?_

“Can you please stop?” You muttered under your breath.

The blue-haired’s eyes widened in surprise. He was just laughing his heart out, locked your head between his arm and chest before he ruffled your head. He was just being himself. He just did what he usually does. It’s not his first time doing it to you so he was taken aback when you suddenly straightened up and told him coldly to stop.

He always flashes a sweet warm smile that makes your heart melt. He always bickers with you but he’s also thoughtful. “You’re such a _tsundere_ ,” You told him one time when he threw his jacket on you saying he’s feeling hot when his actual intention was for you to wear it because a random guy accidentally spilled his drink on you. He spends six days in a week with you but talks about the _other_ girl with sparkling eyes and excitement in his voice.

If he’s really into that girl, why does he always make you feel like you’re _something_ for him. Or does he only want a company everyday, a friend he can talk to and have fun with—and you’re just misunderstanding things? You don’t want to let it go further, you want to stop it before it’s too late. You’re getting too attached and your heart is being swallowed by your emotions—getting deeper and deeper day by day.

“You’re being too much,” you pronounced clenching your jaw “We haven’t known each other for even a month. You keep doing things as if we’re close friends—“

“But aren’t we?” He cut you off “I—I thought we’re already _friends_ , considering we spend every afternoon with each other and do a lot of stuff”

 _Stuff like couples do? All of them look like after work dates!_ You breathed in and exhaled softly “I don’t want to misinterpret your actions.” You swallowed the lump in your throat “But if you’re already interested in someone, aren’t you supposed to keep your distance from other girls?” You clenched your fists as you try to curb a tear from falling. “I’ll get going,” you swiftly walked away without looking back.

Wonpil knocks on the table—on the spot near the cup of your drink—that makes you go back to your senses. You cover your nose and sneeze before rubbing your temple.

“What’s bothering you?” He queries worriedly. “You seem low-spirited since this morning”

You clear your throat before adjusting to your seat and shake your head, “Must be the cold.”

“Why don’t you take the day off?” Younghyun suggests.

“Nah, I can manage.” You smile “I’ll just wait for you guys at the lobby. Let’s head upstairs together.”

“We can go now,” The fox-eyed stands up right away and you just shake your head before motioning him to sit down again. Wonpil eyes him, too, as if trying to send a message through his eyes to let you be alone for a while.

“I’m sorry,” you mutter before sneezing when you accidentally bumped into someone.

“It’s okay,” with that voice, you look up and gesture a small bow. The chief narrows his eyes on you “Are you sick? Did you perhaps wait—“ both of your eyebrows raises up and Mr. Park looks away for a bit, “it’s nothing. If you’re not feeling well, you can go home and rest.”

“I’m fine, Sir,” after another small bow, your eyes catch a familiar figure, “Grandmother?” You feel your boss stiffens in front of you before glancing the old lady behind him. “Why are you here?” You beam before striding to stand before her and get her hands to hold them.

She takes a glimpse at the person behind you before smiling back at you, “I went to the hospital with my grandson,” your lips part in surprise. _So she’s the boss’s grandmother?_ “His brother will come to take me home later. So I’ll be waiting at his office.” He looks up to the boss “She’s the one I told you about, Sungjin—the one who saved me few weeks ago”

You slowly release her hands and straighten up, “I—I just helped her cross—“

A voice in your head suddenly interrupts you, “ _Then there was this lady who stopped her and brought her back to the sidewalk—“_

You snap back to reality when the chief calls you and says his thanks.

_Come to think of it, ‘that’ girl did the same._

The next hours pass unnoticeably. You are too occupied with the _what if’s_ and _maybe’s_.

 _2 weeks ago, he said ‘more than a week ago’, so it’s 3 weeks ago? That’s also when I helped Mr. Park’s grandmother._ You lean forward and rest your head on your desk. _Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Besides who knows how many people help others to cross the street each day?_ You get your handkerchief and cover your nose just before you sneeze again. _But what if it was me?_ You shake your head. _Nope, the one I helped was Mr. Park’s—unless they’re—_

“You know,” a voice interjects with your thoughts “I really think Mr. Park likes you.” He smiles but his eyes show otherwise. “He’s asked me about you for like… four times already? Anyway, here,” he put a tiny bottle on your desk “Younghyun got it for you. I think that guy also likes you. He’s been trying to spend time with you in every chance he gets”

You roll your eyes and it accidentally land on a figure behind the glass wall of the Concept Team’s room. Your best friend traces your line of vision and sees the first person he was talking about earlier.

“See? He’s looking towards your direction. I think he really likes you”

“He likes someone else, Pil,” you squint your eyes on him, “I’m more than 100% of that.” You see a glint of hope painted in his eyes, “He swings the other way,” you declare before opening the bottle of medicine, “and you know, if you do like him, just say so. You’ve known each other way before, right? And if you’re worrying about me, then don’t. I told you I don’t _like_ him that way. Besides… I—I think I like someone else,” you swallow a lump before drinking from the little bottle.

“You _think_ you like someone else?” He repeats. You smile to that fact that he did not deny that he likes the CEO.

“Is it possible to like someone you haven’t known for even a month?” You lean back and stare at him with full of curiosity, “and not even knowing his name?”

He shrugs, “Maybe if you spend a lot of time together? Say, you talk and have fun everyday.” He nods “I think that’s possible. You like someone whom you do not even know the name?”

You get off the elevator on the first floor after work and get welcomed by the CEO’s straight face. “Do you have an umbrella with you?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Please be careful. And _please,_ go home straight and don’t go anywhere else anymore.” He demands and leaves you to get inside the elevator.

You crease your forehead in question as another young man calls you.

“Can I walk you home?”

“I’ll go home by myself, Younghyun,” you smile faintly “Don’t worry about me.”

“I insist”

“No, please. Thanks though”

He sighs in surrender, “How about this Saturday? Are you free?”

“Saturday?” You look away for a second as series of scenarios play in your head. When you threw a pillow to the _Chicken Guy_ when he tricked you during a game, when he locks your head in his arm to tousle your hair because he lost, when you punch his arm whenever he tries to distract you, when—

“So?”

“I’m sorry,” you fold your lips together “I have an appointment every Saturday.” _Saturdays are video game day._ “And even every afternoon after work.”

He slowly exhales as he musters up some courage, “The thing is—“

“Younghyun,” you cut him off instantly “I really enjoy spending time with you. I love having coffees with you. But, I’m sorry. I—“

“It’s okay.” He beams almost forcefully, “Let’s just continue doing those things. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 _Man, this sucks._ You let out a sharp breath. You slowly head towards the shed, not minding the heavy rain and strong wind. Your right side getting wet even when you’re under the umbrella.

You keep sneezing and clearing your throat for almost three hours. Your lips are already quivering as you hug yourself. _What am I even doing here?_ You cough. You’re starting to feel light-headed and your stomach is also grumbling.

Upon hearing footsteps getting closer, you promptly look up only to see your boss standing outside the shed, holding an umbrella and looking at you sadly. With a sigh, he steps closer.

“Go home now,” he puts down his umbrella and takes his coat off before putting it on you. He holds your arm to support you for standing, “I’ll take you home. Let’s go.”

Without a word, you follow him towards his car. He opens the door to the shotgun seat and waits for you to get in. You want to ask how he knew or saw you in the shed, and why he’s taking you home—probably just to look after his employee? If you didn’t realize his _little secret_ , maybe your best friend’s voice is already whispering in your head that your boss likes you. But of course, that’s not the case.

After taking the driver’s seat, you stiffen when you hear the next words he utters “Don’t wait tomorrow, too”

A lump forms in your throat and you didn’t know swallowing could be hard. You release a soft breath, “Do you know the _Chicken Guy,_ Sir?” You quiz when the engine starts.

“Chicken?” He eyes you for a second as the edge of his lips lifts up and he starts driving. “I don’t know any _Chicken Guy_ , but let me take to a chicken place first because I’m sure you haven’t eaten yet.”

To your surprise, he stops outside the chicken place you always go to with the blue-haired guy. You flip your head to look at the CEO and he looks at you with a _what-is-the-matter-_ look. _Does he really not know?_ You sigh and lean back. Mr. Park’s eyebrows furrow.

“Aren’t you getting off?”

You sigh, “I’m sorry, Sir. But may I ask if you can just take me home? I’m not really hungry.”

“No.” He says firmly “You need to eat. I can’t afford you getting sick. And I’m also hungry, so let’s eat”

“I repeat,” he utters in the middle of the meal “Don’t go there and wait tomorrow.”

You clench your fists as your chest tightens. You feel your stomach flipping and you just want to throw up. You grab the glass of water and drink from it to calm yourself.

You should be asking questions to Mr. Park about what he knows, or what he’s talking about but instead you ask yourself why—why is he not coming, why didn’t he show up. _Maybe he took my ‘advice’ and just focused on that girl he’s interested in?_

Leaving from work the next day, Mr. Park shows up just right before you take a step outside the company’s building. He’s making sure you go home straight and as much as he wants to accompany you, he’s waiting for an investor’s call to discuss a project.

Stubborn as you are, your feet still lead you towards the park—the shed.

Time passes slowly. An hour and a half comes by and not even a shadow of the Chicken Guy has showed up. You rub your hands together and cup your face, trying to lessen the cold feeling. Your eyes start watering and the edges are starting to heat up.

Losing hope, you breathe in and stand up to finally go home but the man you’ve been waiting is just a few meters away from you, walking slowly towards the shed.

You bat your eyes to brush off the forming tears.

He greets you with a cough. “I’m sorry,” he says almost a whisper. He’s hugging himself despite the multiple layers and thick coat he’s wearing. His eyes seem heavy but he’s forcing them to open.

Your eyes widen in realization and immediately close the distance between you. His knees almost give up but fortunately, you’re already beside him so you catch him before he falls down. _He’s burning up!_

It’s a struggle taking him to his apartment while holding an umbrella on the other hand. But thankfully, you put him on his bed successfully.

You get up to find a face towel or any cloth and cold water but the sound of vibrating phone catches your attention. Looking at the bedside table, the Chicken Guy’s phone is lighting up.

You don’t want to answer it but it seems to have a few miscalls already. _It might be important. Shall I?_

The ring stops and the caller calls again—it only shows _J._

“Yo! _Chicken little,”_ your grip on the phone tightens and so does your chest “why aren’t you answering my calls? I’m so d*mn worried. You’re brother called me asking about you, too. Hello? Hello?! Hey, _Chicken little,_ answer me!”

It’s a girl’s voice—a girl who’s calling her _Chicken_ other than you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thoughts? :)


	6. Please

You’re staring at the warm hand gripping yours. You can feel how the owner of the hand is forcing himself to hold yours tightly when he doesn’t even have much energy.

You were quite startled when he abruptly grabbed your hand when you stood up after putting a wet towel on his forehead. The girl on the phone asked you to look after the _Chicken Guy_ because she can’t go to the apartment herself since it’s still raining hard.

“D-don’t—“, he tries voicing and he seems having a hard time speaking “don’t leave,” his grasp loosen a bit but he tries tightening it as if begging (‘forcing’ if he’s in his normal state) you not to go.

Still looking at your hands in contact, you take a gulp. “I’m—I’m not leaving,” you look away “I’m just going to drink a glass of water.”

He remains clasping your hand for another five seconds before letting it go. You get out of his room only to lean back on the door and put a hand on your chest to let the wild beating calm. The back of your hand gently taps your cheek as if checking if your face is hot. Eventually, you go to the kitchen to actually do what you’ve said—drink.

_Who’s that girl though? Is she the one he keeps on talking about?_

Releasing a breath, you walk back to his room as you try to clear your thoughts. His head moves slowly, still with eyes closed, and you think you just heard him utter your name twice.

_It must be my imagination. We don’t know each other’s names until now._

You quietly walk towards the bed to check on him. His eyes flutter a bit as if trying to look around. You see him constantly shifting as if trying to find a comfortable position—or maybe he’s trying make himself feel warmer because he seems to be trying to pull the blanket closer and closer to him even if there’s no space between it and his body already.

You lean down to adjust the cloth on his forehead but to your surprise, a hand grabs your wrist and pulls you while the other hand drapes on your back, enclosing you to an embrace. You feel his body relax right after the top of your body fell on him. Being on top of the blue-haired young man, you can hear his heavy breathing becoming calmer.

You slowly attempt to get up but the moment he senses you trying to do so, he pulls you closer and his arm on your back tightens its grip. You can almost hear your heartbeat thumping loudly.

You bite your lip as you unconsciously hold your breath. When he moves again, trying to make your position a little bit more comfortable, that’s the moment you realize that you aren’t breathing. As you exhale softly, you once again try to get up, but then again, it’s no dice—he just keeps on pulling you closer.

“Please,” he breathes.

As you try to keep a tear from falling, you whisper to yourself _‘Just this once’._ You snuggle closer to him, moving your head towards his shoulder and putting your feet up on the bed. His arm that was on your back is now below your head, and the other that was holding your right arm is now resting on your hip.

He heaves a sigh of relief as you fix yourself beside him. He snakes his left hand on your waist to pull you closer (once again) to him; his other hand, hold your right shoulder as a support.

The weather is very cold since the rain still hasn’t settled down but you feel like you’re sweating from the steam getting off of your body. _I feel pathetic._ You bite your lip as you let a tear fall while asking yourself if the current scenario you’re in is really okay or not. _Of course, it’s not. Why am I still even asking? Doesn’t he already have a girl—or, I mean… are they together now? Not yet?_ You clench your fist without realizing it. _Who was the girl who called before? Man, I feel contemptible but I can’t stop—I can’t restrain myself. I’m so awful right now, am I not?_ You weep quietly and you don’t know if he noticed it or not, because he pulls you closer again and caresses your back as if trying to console you, but you let yourself go with the flow anyway.

The blue-haired wakes up few minutes before four in the morning. He squeezes his eyes tightly before slowly opening them. He stares at you with a soft expression in his eyes. He tucks the strand of your hair covering your eyes behind your ear before stroking your cheek softly by his thumb. He smiles warmly as his chest throbs crazily. He presses his lips on the top of your head as he hugs you tightly again before going back to sleep.

“She’s sick,” you overhear a voice few feet from you “I think she caught it from me. She looked over me the whole night.” Your forehead creases as you continue hearing the familiar voice.

 _Who’s he talking to?_ You carefully open your eyes and see the back of the Chicken Guy facing you. He is holding his phone against his ear. You glance at the wall clock which reads 10:14. Before it sinks into you that you’re already late for work, you remember what happened last night. As if on cue, he turns to check on you. You glance at him and immediately look away. You remember how he pulled you and how you fell on top of him when you were supposed to fix the small towel on his forehead; and how you eventually fell asleep in his tight warm embrace. _I slept beside him the whole night! Not to mention he was holding me in his arms!_

You can’t help but widen your eyes as your chest tightens with all of the sudden flashbacks from last night. _Oh right, shoot! I’m late for work!_ You hastily seat up and move the blanket away when your head suddenly aches. Your body also seems sore, your eyes feel quite heavy and you feel weak.

He runs toward you and carefully holds your shoulder, “Just lay down again,” he demands “you’ve got fever. Also, don’t worry about work for today. Just rest”

He apologizes for not showing up for the past nights—he was sick, if it’s not yet obvious (he says he has a very weak immune system so he gets sick so easily and he played basketball with one of his friends while the rain was pouring). It’s not like he owes you some since you didn’t really agree to meet everyday—although it seem to be a silent pact, there’s nothing to explain. Besides, what are you to him exactly? No one in particular—just a random stranger whom he offered an umbrella one rainy afternoon in exchange for free chicken, a stranger who eventually became his snack buddy, and a gaming partner.

“Are you sure you’re fine now?” Wonpil asks when you get back to work on Monday.

“No worries,” you declare as you show him an ‘OK’ sign.

“But why is something still off?” He quizzes.

You unconsciously bite your lower lip and shift your gaze away from him. _It’s just—_ series of scenarios from few days ago flash in your mind again. Not to mention, he visited you everyday to look after you, more than what you did when he’s sick. All you did was just take him home, put him to bed and put a cold damp towel on his forehead. But he brought you porridge, made you watch animated movies to keep you from getting bored (you both had Studio Ghibli and Makoto Shinkai marathon), brought his PSPs to play with you, do everything you want him to do—although he still kept on teasing you, he sure took good care of you, making sure you wouldn’t strain yourself and you’re entertained enough.

“See?” your best friend’s voice pulls you back to present “There’s really something going on.”

That afternoon after work, his grinning face welcomes you when you step out of the company’s building. You do the usual stuff—getting a snack and stays at the joint for few hours before going to the shed.

“Shall we go home early tonight?” he asks “Although it hasn’t rained, it’s really chilly. You just recovered from your fever”

“Says the one who was sick for four nights,” you roll your eyes.

The wind blows and the cold breeze embraces you. You shiver and clench your fist. _Of all things, why did I forget my jacket?_ Your forehead furrows when you see him spread his arms (his hands are in the pockets of his coat, so the coat is spread open as he did to his arms). You raise a brow to question.

“Aren’t you cold?” He moves his eyebrows up and down as if expressing that he’s got an awesome idea. You crease your forehead again when you realize what he meant. “C’mon. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ll _enclose_ you in my arms”

Your heart skips a beat. You notice that he did not directly regard it as a _hug. Maybe not to make me feel awkward?_ You mentally flick yourself. _But it still insinuates the same thing!_

“I told you to—“

The next words are hung in the air when he suddenly wraps an arm around you, making your body be covered by his coat. It _almost_ _seems_ like he’s hugging you—if he’s not yet actually doing that. _Of course, he’s not._

_Geez, I told you to minimize doing this kind of things._

“Who’s J?” you voice that even you yourself is surprised. _Where did that come from?_

You feel him squeeze your shoulder and draw you closer to him as if assuring you of _something._ “A childhood friend.”

 The next day, he does another thing. He holds your hand and put it inside the pocket of his hoodie. It’s so sudden that you did not have the chance to pull your hand back but when you try to do so, he intertwines his fingers to yours and holds your hand tighter.

“You’ll be cold,” he utters nonchalantly.

You’re starting to tell yourself that it’s okay—what happened _that_ night, sleeping while he’s embracing you the whole time, is fine, too; that your afternoon agenda is normal; that maybe the _other_ girl is just a girl he’s thankful for; that maybe there’s really _something_ going on between the two of you.

But just when you’re starting to think that way, you begin to doubt again when you hear a very familiar voice—that laugh that makes your chest tingle—having so much fun with a girl one afternoon. You’re on your way to the CEO’s office to submit some concept reports and reviews when you hear two voices laughing in harmony.

Just when you take a turn at the end of the hall way, the door of the CEO’s office opens and you see Mr. Park goes out as he calls out ‘ _Hyung, Jamie’_ to the people standing outside the office—an arm wrapped around the head of a girl, locking her, and her hair is tousled (a very familiar scene, you think).

Your eyes shift from the CEO to the Chicken Guy and to the girl. Each one’s lips are agape—like no one has been expecting this kind of situation. You swallow a lump as your grip on the folder you’re holding tightens.

“Sir,” you mutter almost a whisper, feeling your knees getting weak, as you hand him the papers while the blue-haired straightens up and the girl fixes her hair, “here are the concept reviews,” you bat your eyelids in attempt to calm yourself “just call me again if you need me.” Without waiting for his response, you turn around and walk away.

You tense upon hearing the very familiar voice calling out your name. _He knows my name!_ You walk more swiftly but with his long legs, he catches up to you in an instant. He grabs your arm to make you stop and you hastily pull it away from his grasp and face him.

“You knew me all along?” You choke “And… _‘Hyung’?_ You’re Mr. Park’s—you’re a Park, you’re the CEO’s brother.” You exhale a sharp breath as you tell yourself how unbelievable it is. But come to think of it, there are clues—how Mr. Park reacted with your concepts, how he told you not to wait, how he suddenly acted especially nice towards you, how he knew where you were on that rainy night, and the grandmother! _So I was right with that assumption? That the only way I can be that girl on his story is when his grandmother and the grandmother I saved which is the CEO’s grandparent is the same person._

_Pathetic._

“Let me exp—“

“ _Hyung,”_ Mr. Park calls out. Just by hearing him call his older brother makes your ears itch. You squeeze your eyes shut as the chief motions his brother to leave you for now.

Not to mention, there’s also _that_ girl. Who’s that girl? _Jamie?_  Isn’t she the one the blue-haired is interested in? If he kept on talking about the girl on the street, aren’t you that girl? Then who’s the one earlier? Is she the childhood friend—the   _J?_ Or is she someone else—someone very special perhaps?

“Why are you here?” You hear Jackson’s voice behind your back an hour after.

You’re seated on the swing located in the company’s garden. You figured there won’t be people there because the employees usually go to the Rec Room, sports area, library, and café; or sometimes indulge themselves in their work.

You briskly wipe the trace of tears on your face before the CEO’s secretary goes beside you.

“I have to show you something,” he excitedly declares “I haven’t gotten the chance to show this to you the past weeks because you’re always with Younghyun and Wonpil.” He fumbles on the phone’s screen before he shows it to you.

As soon as the guitar plucking starts _‘JAE PARK Better Man’_ shows on screen which makes your breathing hitch. The black screen slowly fades, revealing a young man with fringe up hair, square-framed black eyeglasses, a piercing on the left ear, running his hand on the neck of the guitar and the other tweaking the strings. Your lips quiver as you try not to break.

_I’m the kind of guy_

Hearing his voice is what it takes for you to burst. The guy who sang the song that Jackson made you listen few weeks ago was him all along—your speculation was right again.

Jackson panics at your sudden rupture. He instantly stops the video and puts his phone in his pocket, puts his hand on your shoulder and the other patting your back. “W-what happened? Why are you suddenly crying?” Instead of answering his questions, you respond with another batch of tears.

You can’t be thankful enough for having non-rainy days for the next days. You keep on avoiding the _Chicken Guy,_ and even if he tried multiple times to talk with you, you just continued walking until he’d stop.

On the ninth day of playing cat and mouse though, the wind keeps on blowing powerfully. The sky looks gloomy, too. _Please, don’t let it rain, don’t let it rain._ You keep chanting in your head when you finish your work.

“A low pressure area trough will move through South Korea,” Wonpil informs “It’s said to bring heavy rain. Please be safe.”

You pace quickly after going out of the building. Not soon after, a hand grips on your arm.

“Let me go,” you deadpan.

As if he hears nothing, he leans down to carry you on his shoulder like a sack of rice. You keep yelling but no one is trying to help you. You continuously hit his back and kick your feet in the air but he’s as persistent—or even more. You feel a water drop on your arm and you almost cuss when you realize it’s drizzling.

The moment he steps on the shed, the rain pours. He lets you down and you immediately try to walk away but he swiftly pulls you back.

“What the heck! Can’t you see it’s pouring hard?”

“I’m not blind!” You hiss “And leave me alone! Mind your own biz”

 He run a hand on his face as if trying to calm down, “Please. Let’s talk,” he breathes in, putting both hands on waist “I think I’ve given you more than enough time already to cool down. So let’s talk”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“There’s a lot.”

“Like what?!” You strike a sarcastic smile, “Like how you played with me since Day 1? How you acted like a jerk while I needed help? Then what? You came to me ‘offered help’ only to play with me further? _Chicken,_ huh? What a cheat code. You made a fool out of me. And what the ef—I just let you?” You release a sharp air, “Do you know exactly what and how you made me feel this whole month?” Your eyes start to water, “You made me excited, you made me happy—delighted, you gave me thrill, you pissed the hell out of me but I kept wanting for more, I craved for the sound of your laugh, I yearned for the sight of your smile, you made me anxious, confused, one moment you’d make me feel like I was freaking special—like we’re _something—_ then another minute, you’d make me feel otherwise. You made me friggin’ long for your presence even if we see each other six days out of seven. Heck! I kept missing you but you,” you sniff and you firmly wipe your tears using the back of your hand “You kept my feelings wandering around, making it feel like it has no certain destination—like it’ll be left meandering forever. And holy freaking sh*t! You held me in your arms for a whole night! What a combo you got there. You made me feel crazy, like you want me but you don’t. I kept asking myself what we are, what am I to you—maybe I’m just a substance to temporarily fill your void. Was I a quest to accomplish? Or an item to add in your inventory? For what? To increase your real life XP points? Or am I like a healer to keep your sanity? You made me feel all kinds of things but you just tricked me. Was it amusing?” You chortle sarcastically, “I’m sure you’re very entertained. Now if you may excuse me, I’m done being in your game,” you weakly declare as you turn and take a step

“I like you!” He proclaims making you halt. Even your heartbeat seems to pause for a second or two. “I just thought those trivial matter won’t change a thing; that what’s important is what we’ve shared, the times we’ve spent together, the bond we’ve made and the memories we’ve created—most especially, the feelings that are linking our hearts to each other’s; though unspoken, still certainly evident.” You feel him take a step closer, “I told you, I was just thankful at first but when I learned you’re working on my brother’s company, I decided to know you more—and when I did, I can’t help but be enticed by your character. You’re like a magnet that no matter how much I pull myself away, I still keep coming back—with just a smile, I fall back hard; with just a glance from you, I’m being pulled towards an endless pit, and the deeper I’m getting pulled, the deeper my feelings get; with just a single word—“

You force your eyes shut as you clench your fist. You decide not to hear any more of it so you take another step in attempt to go home despite the rain but he catches you again, holding your arm and making you turn to him. He abruptly leans closer which causes your eyes to widen.

You feel like your chest fall on the floor. You can feel his breath brushing your lips when his mouth is just an inch away from yours. You take a gulp. He sighs in surrender, not leaning further, before straightening up and pulling you in a hug.

“ _Can we take this kind of slow? ‘Cause I don't want to mess up_ ,” he sings before he chuckles. You start to relax upon hearing that familiar song. You feel the breath of relief he releases before he kisses the top of your head and tightens his hold of you. “Let’s take this slow”

With 164cm as your height and him being almost 6 feet tall, you can perfectly feel and almost hear his heartbeat. It’s pounding crazily to the rhythm of yours. Your clenching fists start to loosen as you nod between his chest and arms. You can feel him smile even without looking at him.

“It’s Jae by the way,” he declares “Jaehyung Park”

His sudden introduction to himself makes you chuckle. After all this time, he only introduced himself just now. You shake your head a bit before draping your arms around his waist to reciprocate his embrace. The cold and rainy weather makes it more ideal.

 _I want to stay like this a little bit longer._ You sigh. _Don’t stop the rain, please. Please._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THOUGHTS THOUGHTS THOUGHTS???
> 
> That's the end--but MIGHT add another? Epilogue focusing on Jae's side??  
> AND AND, more info of Jae on the spin-off of this fic--"Let it Rain" (Okay not yet sure about that, but the plot keeps on invading my thoughts whenever I write a chapter of this story. You might have a clue about it already)
> 
> Kudos, and comments, maybe??


	7. spin-offs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOT AN UPDATE
> 
> I will delete this part when I'm done with the Epilogue.

Hi! So the Don't Stop the Rain (Jae x Reader) is not yet done. Just one more chapter (an epilogue). But since I've started working last Wednesday, I can't find a time to write it (although I started writing last week--only one sentence HAHA). Buuuuut! I have pending stories after this, they are SPIN-OFFS of Don't Stop the Rain. And the first spin off will be Let It Rain, and it might be a little bit obvious whose story it will be. Hahaha. And then 2 more spin offs: Rain On Me and Raining in my Mind

And also!!! I have one more YK x reader story in mind. AAAND actually a lot more pending plots waiting to be written--I haven't even finished Not Good Enough and Inlusio Fit Vera yet ;; I hope I'll be able to write them all.


	9. Let It Rain

HI. sorry, this is not an update again BUUUUT im already continuing the epilogue. My brain went dry for few months and uhh, im starting with Let It Rain (SungPil) too but I need a little favor?? Can you guys pls answer this poll on [twitter](https://twitter.com/kohiiby/status/1046171597390790656?s=19) first so I could continue writing it?? Thank yooou.


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